Doctor Who Story
by Blonde Dr.Who-Guru With Brains
Summary: Being rewritten! When I have some time, that is. It will have a proper title, I promise.
1. Chapter 1

Not sure what the point of this is, but: Disclaimer: I own nothing except a bunch of Dr. Who merchandise. Anyway, thanks to rosie-bec with helping me to tweak some details and upload this in the first place!

Hoping everyone likes it and reviews fairly. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

In the corridor in a block of flats, outside the door of the top-floor flat, the Doctor walked up the last few steps. He looked fazed, as if nervous about what he was about to do. This was a new Doctor, of average height with light brown hair and intense eyes. He was dressed in a smart-casual T-shirt, a fitted jacket and chinos.

He approached the flat door, hesitated momentarily and rang the doorbell.

He heard footsteps nearing the door, slightly loud, as if the person had been disturbed, and was annoyed.

The door opened. . . . It was a teenage girl. The Doctor hadn't expected a child, and was taken aback. The girl looked at him inquisitively with beautiful denim-blue eyes and leaned on the doorframe.

"Can I help you?" She asked coolly.

The Doctor smiled, totally at ease after his initial surprise – he found teenagers easier to cope with than young children.

"Hello!" He said, cheerfully, "Is Rose in?"

The girl frowned slightly, confused. Her eyes flicked down and back up to his face, taking him in. She called to someone further inside the flat.

"Mum! It's for you."

She returned to the living room. The Doctor listened carefully.

"Get the chips out, will you?" Said a familiar voice, "And get some homework done."

Rose emerged from the dimly lit flat, approaching the door. She still walked with her old attitude-ish strut. She reached the door and observed him with a slight frown, identical to her daughter's. The Doctor stared back at her, searching for a trace recognition in her eyes, but none came. She looked older, certainly, but there was still the old sparkle in her eyes. Facing the Doctor, she rested one hand on the doorframe and the other on the door, ready to shut it.

"I'm sorry, I don't buy raffle tickets." She said, and made to close the door.

The Doctor placed himself in the way and indicated empty hands.

"See any raffle tickets?" He asked, with a slight smile. He was eager for a bit of their old banter, just to get back on track.

"Was there something you wanted?" Rose asked, with almost forced politeness.

The Doctor's demeanour changed, and his face became more serious. "I want to know how you've been getting on with your life since I last saw you."

Rose was flustered. "What do you mean, since you last saw me? I've never seen you before in my life."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "I don't usually repeat myself" he said, "But I've said it once before, and I'll say it once again. He moved closer to Rose. "Remember the first time we met? I took your hand…." He slipped his hand in hers, mimicking his actions after the first regeneration that Rose had witnessed. "….and I said one word, just one word."

As if of its own accord, Rose's memory flashed back to her first whirlwind meeting with the Doctor.

The Doctor lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered. "'Run.'"

He watched the colour drain from Rose's face. Her eyes widened in shock, and she involuntarily stepped away from him. "No," she said, shocked, "No, you can't be, that's not possible, that's…"

The Doctor raised his hand and Rose faltered, holding back tears, partly of shock, partly of hesitant joy.

"It is possible." He said, "I'm back, not for long, mind, but I want to talk to you."

But Rose persisted. "But," she stammered, "You also said that we could never see each other again. Those holes in time, you closed them, you blocked the gap between universes, how…?" She trailed off.

"I found a fresh one." He told her, "Some idiotic time-meddler who doesn't know what they're doing. I'll have to close it when I leave."

"Again." Rose replied, bitterly.

The Doctor looked abashed, and Rose sighed.

"I suppose you'd better come in." She said, "Be polite to my daughter – she doesn't trust strangers easily." She disappeared back into the flat, and the Doctor followed.

Rose and the Doctor entered the living room. On glancing around, the Doctor noticed that it was the very same flat that Rose had lived in with Jackie, except for the fact that it was the parallel equivalent. He glanced at the spot by the window, remembering how Jackie had slapped him when he had first returned Rose. It was clear that Rose had moved into the flat to have enough room to raise her child, without Jackie interfering too much.

Rose tidied some magazines on the coffee table. "Sorry about the mess." She said, "It's not easy keeping the place tidy when you've got a teenager dumping her things anywhere."

"It's fine," the Doctor assured her, "It's just. . . . lived in."

They looked at each other and exchanged a smile. Rose's daughter entered from the kitchen with two plates of fish and chips, which she placed on the table.

She looked up at the Doctor. "Oh!" She said in surprise, "So he's not some stranger, then?"

"Well, no, not really." said Rose, "He's an old…" here she sniggered slightly, "…friend of mine. I haven't seen him for a long time, which is why I didn't recognise him at first."

"Right, well aren't you going to introduce us, then?"

"Oh yeah, of-course. As I said, he's an old friend and he likes to be known as 'the Doctor.'"

A strange look – was it recognition? - flashed across her daughter's face, but she composed herself. "That's, um, a bit weird."

"Yeah, but try telling him that. And, obviously, Doctor, you've met my daughter, Lia."

The Doctor proffered his hand politely. "Nice to meet you, Lia."

Lia briefly shook his hand. "Likewise, um, Doctor." She hesitated, and returned to the kitchen for cutlery. Rose turned to the Doctor.

"She's not normally this distant." She whispered, so that Lia couldn't hear, "But she won't trust you easily, and you need to gain that from her."

The Doctor looked bemused. "Why?" he asked, "Why does she need to trust me?"

At that point, Lia came back. "Your food's gonna get cold, Mum." She set the cutlery out, laying them perfectly parallel.

"Are you staying?" Rose asked the Doctor, "We've probably got some food left in the oven."

"Nah, I'm not hungry." He replied, "Can I take a wander round?"

"Sure, just don't get yourself stuck in the bathroom." Rose gave him an affectionate smile.

"Don't go in my room!" Lia called.

They ate their dinner in silence, broken only by the chink of cutlery on plates. After a while, Lia finally spoke.

"Who is he, Mum?" Lia asked, "I mean, you introduced him as a title. It's not a name, is it?"

"Well, no." Rose agreed. "But I knew him for a long time, and I can assure you, he's perfectly – well, not normal – but he is sane."

Lia gave her a penetrating look, which unsettled Rose.

The Time Lord himself strode back into the room. "Very cosy." He remarked, "Nice decorating in the bathroom."

His attempts at acting normal made Rose chuckle, causing her to choke on a chip. Lia whacked Rose on the back and refilled her glass of water. Rose regained her composure.

"Are you staying?" She asked again, "Only I wanted to catch up with you."

The Doctor looked at his watch. "Sure. I've got until nine o'clock."

"Fantastic." Rose finished the last of her dinner and got up, leaving her plate and glass on the table. "Would you clear the table when you're done, Lia?"

Lia looked annoyed. "Why? I laid it and did most of the preparation!"

Put off her stride, Rose took her used crockery and put it in the dishwasher.

"Come on," she muttered to the Doctor, "We're going for a walk."

_Hope you enjoyed it! Obviously, this isn't all; there is more to come! I won't give you any spoilers, but please press that little button and leave a comment! Be nice: this is my first time!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Here you go, for the amazing two comments I received, here's the next instalment. I'm being sarcastic, of-course. Come on, peeps! If I don't get enough feedback, how am I supposed to know how to improve it? Please read, and pleeeease review! #pulls puppy eyes# Go on you lovely people, you know you want to! Lol, enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 2

They strolled around the Powell Estate, chatting and generally catching up with the chunks of each others' lives that they'd missed.

"So there I was, with maggots in my shoes and a baby Blathereen wrapped round my leg, and I was trying to shut down this great big bio-containment tank, so the Blathereen couldn't use cultivated bacteria to obliterate several species to make room for their offspring!" The Doctor paused for breath in the middle of recounting his travels.

"It all sounds so amazing." Rose said jealously. "I wish I could have been there with you."

The Doctor looked sadly into her friendly brown eyes. "I always wished exactly the same thing." He wrapped his arms around Rose in a great big bear hug that lifted her clean off the ground. She hugged him back.

"Oh, I've missed you so much, Doctor."

He planted a big kiss on her forehead in reply. "So, tell me how things have been going with Mister Mickey then."

"We're still friends." Rose replied, "But I think he still wishes we could be more. Still, he knows he can't replace you. Makes me feel quite guilty, actually."

"You shouldn't, it's not your fault I'm so amazingly irreplaceable." The Doctor grinned, showing very white teeth which slightly ran over each other. Rose stared at them.

"You may be a doctor, but you're no dentist, you know that?"

"What's wrong with my teeth?" The Doctor asked, incensed.

"You need braces, mate." Rose tapped them cheekily.

The Doctor looked horrified. "Can you see me with braces? Mind you, that'd be one way to see off enemies. Position yourself in front of the light and give 'em a big smile and they'd be blinded!"

Rose chuckled, and the Doctor joined in. Soon they were bent double, laughing so hard they were crying. Rose gasped for air and straightened up, wiping tears of laughter away.

"Oh dear," she sighed, "Just like the old days."

The Doctor turned to face her, a serious expression on his face. "We can relive the old days even more if you want."

Rose bit her lip. "I need to talk to you about something before we can think about that. Come on. I need to check up on Lia."

xXxXx

Back at the flat, Lia was in her bedroom, flipping through an A3 size sketchpad. She kept it close to her, not letting the covers fall, as if scared that someone would open the door at any moment and see what she was looking at. She flipped the sheets of paper angrily, muttering to herself.

"The Doctor. That bloody Doctor."

She got up and put it in a drawer under her bed, covering it with spare bed linen to keep it hidden. She sighed, and looked at her computer, wondering whether to continue with her essay that night. What was the time? Nearly nine o'clock. The Doctor would be leaving soon. Deciding against working for the night, she picked up her pyjamas and made for the bathroom.

xXxXx

Rose let herself and the Doctor through the door of the flat and ushered him into the living room. She was about to check on Lia in her bedroom when she heard the shower turn on. She joined the Doctor in the living room, closing the door behind her, and flopped down next to him on the squashy red sofa.

"So, apart from saving civilisations and escaping death, what have you been up to since – well, you know." She faltered, remembering the last time she had seen the Doctor. The raw memory brought tears to her eyes. The Doctor squeezed her hand comfortingly.

"Oh, the usual. Visiting galaxies, planet hopping, you know."

Rose grinned. "Same old life, then?"

"Yeah, sort of." He paused and Rose looked at him expectantly. When he didn't speak, she continued the conversation.

"Any new companions?" She asked hesitantly.

"A few." This was spoken shortly, and the Doctor paused again, wondering how best to phrase the next bit. "I've missed you, Rose. It's been so…" here, he struggled to find the right word, "… different, without you."

"Yeah, I've missed you too." They exchanged a smile, and the Doctor shifted uncomfortably.

"Rose, can I ask you something? Without being rude or anything, who's… who's Lia's father?"

Rose bit her lip nervously. "Well, actually, that's something I need to talk to you about."

"It's not Mickey, is it?"

Rose laughed. "No!"

Outside the door of the living room, Lia came out of the bathroom in her pyjamas. She stopped outside the closed door to eavesdrop, and Rose's voice floated out, clearly audible.

"No, actually he's her god-father."

Lia smiled to herself: she liked Mickey, and had grown up with him being the closest thing she had to a father figure. The Doctor's voice followed Rose's, asking the ominous question.

"So, if he isn't her father, then who is?"

Lia was suddenly alert, listening carefully. She didn't have to try too hard: her hearing was as sharp as a bat's.

Back in the living room, Rose was struggling to articulate her answer to the Doctor.

"This is really difficult to explain. I don't know how best to put it."

"It's not _that_ bad, is it?"

Rose shrugged. "I don't know."

"Rose, you know the kind of things I've seen and done. I'm pretty sure whatever you've got to tell me can't be much worse than anything I've heard before."

"Well, I'll leave you that to you to decide."

The Doctor sat up and looked at Rose in utter bemusement. Rose turned and looked him in the eyes.

"It's you." She half-whispered, "She's your daughter."

Lia froze, a look of utmost shock on her face. Not stopping to hear any more, she hurried noiselessly to her bedroom.

* * *

_Well there's a shock for the Doctor, if ever I saw one. I won't put any 'next time's or 'coming soon's cos I'll give away the plot!_

_Well if it's not too much to ask, press that little grey button and enter your pearls of wisdom!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Well here's the next bit. There's not a lot of it I'm afraid, but I think it's relatively important stuff._

_

* * *

_Chapter 3

The Doctor and Rose sat in silence. The Doctor's face showed exactly the same expression as Lia's had. Rose watched him warily. Although she had known the Doctor during two of his incarnations, she had no idea how this one would react.

"Please say something." She said quietly.

The Doctor put his face in his hands. "Are you sure?" he mumbled through his fingers.

"Positive," Rose replied, "I wouldn't tell you otherwise."

"How do you know?" He asked insistently, "Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?" Rose stood up angrily.

"Yes, I'm sure! I've seen proof of it in her!" The Doctor looked up, wanting to know more. "I know she's half Time Lord, Lady, whatever." Rose continued, "The way she thinks, the way her injuries heal, her weird eyesight, how often she gets dizzy! I know how they all come from you, what parts of you are being shown."

The Doctor stood up to face her and gripped her arms. "But how do you _know?_" he said forcefully, "We didn't even…" He trailed off.

"Don't you remember?" Rose said, tears of frustration leaping to her eyes, "I loved you Doctor, and I still do. I've never forgotten you. Every time I taught her on my knee, whenever I took her to school, I always thought you should have been there."

This seemed to hit the Doctor physically. He let go of Rose's arms and sat back down on the sofa. "So, there're one and a half Gallifreyans left now?"

Rose half laughed through her tears. "I guess that's one way of putting it." She pulled herself together. "I'd better go and look in on her before she goes to bed, else she'll be reading 'til the small hours."

The Doctor nodded and gave her a weak smile. "Ok. I'm going to go back to the TARDIS, but I'll stay there overnight and come back in the morning, alright?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, fine. But some back after she's gone to school, otherwise she'll start interrogating me."

They hugged briefly, and the Doctor let himself out of the flat. Rose checked the locks, then popped her head round Lia's bedroom door.

xXxXx

Lia was in bed, reading by the glow of her bedside lamp. She looked up as Rose opened the door.

"Light off!" Rose told her, "You've got school tomorrow."

Lia sighed: she had heard this many times. "Alright, I know, end of the chapter." She gave Rose a cheeky smile. Rose went and gave Lia a hug.

"Night, then."

Lia hugged Rose back. "Night, Mum. Love you." Rose gave her a kiss, then left the room. Lia sank back onto her pillows, but didn't continue reading. She looked exhausted from mentally processing the information she had picked up that evening.

Outside Lia's bedroom, Rose leaned against the wall, also exhausted. She rubbed her eyes and went to bed.

xXxXx

Lia may have been in bed, but she knew that there was very little chance of her sleeping that night. She had lived with Rose for sixteen years, visiting Pete, Jackie and their second child, William, at birthdays and Christmas, but until that evening, she had always believed that her father was an ordinary man who had died in the Battle of Canary Wharf. How, then, did Rose know the Doctor? When and how had they met? How long had they known each other? Had they had a stable, loving relationship, or was she the product of a one-off? Questions whirled around in Lia's head like snowflakes in a blizzard. She fiddled with her necklace as she thought, then took it off to lie down. After several hours of tossing and turning, she finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

In the Tardis, the Doctor paced around the console, muttering to himself.

"What do you think?" He said to the Tardis. "I'm a dad, and I don't know how I'm supposed to react. What should I do? Would you be angry if I showed you to her?"

The Tardis hummed reassuringly, and the Doctor took that to be a "No" to the latter question. He resumed muttering to himself.

"How much does she know? I bet Rose hasn't told her anything about me before. And what sort of name is 'Lia'? Probably short for something. I'll ask Rose. God, I wonder if she's told Jackie I'm back. I don't want another slap." He subconsciously put his hand to his cheek and moved his jaw gingerly. The smallest trace of an ache still resided from the first slap he had received. Grimacing at the memory, the Doctor sat down and switched on some music with a buzz of the sonic screwdriver. The lush chords of Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' washed over him, and he sank back into the seat.

* * *

_That's your lot for now. Huge apologies, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while for the next chapter, as I am not very far ahead in writing it!_

_Thanks for all the lovely reviews I've had so far. Leave another if it takes your fancy._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next morning, Lia was up before Rose, getting ready for school. The normality of her morning routine felt strange after such a huge discovery. She busied herself with packing her school bag and making some breakfast: anything to keep her mind off the Doctor. Her toast popped up, making her jump, and she spread it liberally with jam.

Rose emerged from her bedroom, tousle haired and yawning.

"Spare a crumb for your hungry mother." She snatched a piece of toast off Lia's plate before she could yank it out of reach.

"Oi!" Lia exclaimed through a mouthful, "Get your own! And anyway, shouldn't you be getting ready for work?"

Rose shook her head, chewing. "I'm working at home today. Boss wants a couple of reports done."

The problem with Rose's job was the company she worked for. The Torchwood Institute on this world had opened many job opportunities after the Doctor had left her. With her knowledge of alien races and worlds, Rose had walked the interview, and had landed a top-notch job with a nice big pay check at the end of each month. The problem was, anyone outside the company wasn't supposed to know about Torchwood. Rose had been able to tell her mum and Pete about the job, as they had been there when the Torchwood on her home world had been destroyed. However, she had never been able to tell Lia. Instead, she had led her to believe that she worked in an ordinary, boring company as secretary to a pompous and arrogant man.

Up until recently, Lia had believed every word Rose said about her job. But in the recent weeks, she had noticed a change in Rose's behaviour. She was secretive and increasingly flustered. She had telephone conversations in a low, hushed voice and quickly stopped talking when Lia was nearby. Lia started to take note of when Rose had such conversations, and used times when Rose was out of the flat, usually when she went to the supermarket, to find the number she had been contacting at that time. More often than not, it was her work number, but occasionally it was Jackie and Pete's home number. This puzzled Lia, and she had once tried to ask Jackie about it, but was told to wait until the time when Rose saw fit to explain to her. This frustrated Lia. She felt that, despite her age, Rose wouldn't trust her with something that was clearly highly important.

Outside Bucknall House, the TARDIS was hidden around the corner from the main doors. The Doctor watched the monitor as Lia hurried past, evidently running late for school. He waited for her to go past, and then slipped out and into the block of flats. By the time he reached the top floor, Rose was fully dressed and made up and was watching through the peep-hole for him. She wrenched open the door when he bounded up the last flight of steps.

"About blinking time!" She grinned as they flung their arms around each other. The Doctor squeezed her tight and let go.

"About the father business," he began, "Is there some kind of test you could have done?"

Rose's good mood evaporated. "Don't you believe me at all?" She demanded angrily. "Do you really think I would lie to you about something like this?"

Not for the first time, the Doctor looked almost ashamed.

"Well, no." he replied, "Not really." He looked at his toes, and Rose felt like a strict school teacher.

"Look," she said more patiently, "if I had got a paternity test for her, and it showed your DNA, both of us would have been locked up and tested on. Surely you can understand that?" The Doctor nodded. His silence spoke volumes.

Rose continued. "And besides, like I said last night, there've been plenty of signs to prove me right."

"Yeah, which reminds me," the Doctor interjected, "what was that about her getting dizzy? How's that supposed to link back to me? It could be to do with her blood pressure for all we know."

Rose sighed. "You know, for someone so brainy, you aren't half dim sometimes. Do you remember the day after we first met?"

He stared at her, wondering where this was leading.

Rose continued. "That time by the park. You took my hand and reeled off a load of poetry about the Earth turning. I felt it too. Then you let go and I lost the giddiness of feeling the planet moving."

He still stared at her, then sprang into life, practically galloping into the living room.

"She feels it? What if she tells someone?" The panic was dangerously near the surface, threatening to overflow into his voice and facial expression.

Rose pushed him onto the sofa, where he became still and chewed his lip. "She hasn't," she assured him, "The first time she said she could feel it, she was only a toddler. I told her that she was imagining things and to about forget it. She's used to it now, so she doesn't notice it so much."

"What about the dizziness? Does she get that often?"

Rose shook her head. "She hasn't got it much since she hit adolescence. I reckon the increase in hormones must play a relatively big part in it."

The Doctor still didn't look convinced. She carried on. "And anyway, she realised that it's not exactly normal, so she hasn't told anyone about it. Not even her friends."

Having met en route to school, Lia and her friend hurried up the hill to school, willing the bell not to ring until they were indoors. They made it just in time, entering their tutor room just as the bell rang. Some ten minutes later, the register was finally filled in correctly and the students were ushered to their first lessons of the day. Lia's was double Science and, although this was one of her better subjects, her mind wandered while the teacher, a tall man with greying hair and piercing blue eyes, explained the theory of releasing nuclear energy. For the first time in a long time, Lia caught herself willing the day to end so that she could get home to confront Rose about the previous evening. She normally couldn't bear a scene, but she knew that the longer she left it, the harder it would get to broach the topic.

She coasted through the rest of the day in a similar fashion, waking from her many reveries only when a teacher asked her a question. Mercifully, this was in the lessons she found easier than others; languages and science.

At the end of the day, Lia had already packed her things away before the bell rang, which did so to the second. Lia jumped up and hurried as fast as possible out of the classroom, not waiting for her friend to catch up. Once outside the school gates, she broke into a jog. She knew that if she took her time getting home, she wouldn't bother talking to Rose.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey peeps. Sorry sorry sorry a million times for never updating - that's if you didn't get bored waiting and just gave up. I wouldn't blame you! But anywho, here's the fifth chapter. There is a sixth, but I haven't written much more than that lately, so sorry again for making you wait all the time!

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5 

At home, Rose and the Doctor had finished discussing the oddities of Lia's DNA, and they were now preparing themselves to explain to Lia what she had already overheard. The Doctor had decided - very bravely, Rose thought – to stay and try to help Rose explain, thinking that if he had retreated to the Tardis, Lia would think him cowardly and refuse to talk to him.

Lia burst through the front door. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes bright, yet determined.

"Mum," she began, "I have to talk to you."

Rose interrupted. "Actually, I need to tell you something first."

"No," Lia said, "This is really important. Can I talk to you in private?" She cast her eyes at the Doctor, who was hovering in the background. Rose shooed him into the kitchen and shut the door on him, then turned back to Lia.

"I know what you're going to tell me is to do with him," Lia inclined her head towards the kitchen door, "and I already know. I heard you saying last night." Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to be quite so blunt. Most of the colour receded from Rose's face, and for a second, Lia thought she was going to faint. However, when Rose spoke, she sounded more angry than shocked.

"What were you doing eavesdropping? You know what I've told you about listening to other peoples' conversations!" Lia hastened to calm Rose down.

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. But now I know, I wanted to tell you. And anyway, he seems alright. Even if I still don't really know who he is."

"Well, if you two talked to each other, maybe he could explain."

Lia shook her head. "Not right now. I've got homework to be getting on with." Rose agreed, but privately decided to send the Doctor into Lia's room while she was supposedly working. Lia left the room and retreated to her bedroom. Rose crossed the room and let the Doctor out of the kitchen. The moment the door opened, he started chuntering away.

"I know what you said about eavesdropping, but I couldn't help that! And if you think I'm going to go and talk to her you've got another think coming." Rose raised her eyebrows, and he shut his mouth before he could receive an ear-bashing.

"Well that's tough, because you are going to go and talk to her _now_." There was a harder tone to her voice that the Doctor had never heard before, imperious and commanding, as if used to getting her own way. Hardened and experienced though he was, he didn't quite dare disobey Rose, although he did make an attempt at lightening the mood by saluting her before turning to make his way down the short corridor towards Lia's room.

In her room, Lia was sitting at her desk, her computer screen showing a half written essay. However, as Rose had predicted, she was not working. She had the sketch-book, which was normally hidden under her bed, open in front of her. She was concentrating hard on a new drawing, copying from a scrap of paper that had been torn out of her physics exercise book. Although she didn't know it, she was drawing the console room of the Tardis, and with incredible accuracy. She took a different pencil from the pot next to the computer monitor and started shading in the stem of the console. The sound of the door opening made her jump. She hastily put her pencils away and shoved the sketch-pad under her computer keyboard and turned to the monitor, trying to pretend she had been working all along.

A voice behind her stopped her nerves jangling. "I saw that." Lia turned to see the Doctor's head poking round the door.

"You didn't half make me jump." She couldn't keep the accusatory tone from her voice and instantly wished she hadn't spoken.

The Doctor smiled, hoping that Lia was prepared to talk. "Sorry about that." He paused. "Can I come in?" To his relief, Lia returned the smile. He noticed, unintentionally, that she looked even prettier when she smiled.

"Alright," she replied, "any excuse not to work." The Doctor sidled in, desperately wondering how he was going to start a conversation. He asked the first question that he could think of that sounded reasonably sane.

"So, umm, what are you doing there?"

Lia involuntarily indicated the computer screen. "Oh, just an essay for English." The Doctor nodded politely, racking his brains for something else to say. Fortunately, Lia spared him and twisted round in her seat.

"Mum sent you in, didn't she?" She looked faintly amused, noticing how tense he was, rocking on the balls of his feet with his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

He tried, and failed, to look offended. "Not really, just trying to be friendly." But Lia already knew. She typed a few more words in her essay, then gave up for the day. She turned back round to talk to him.

"You can relax, you know. I'm not going to have a tantrum just because I overhead Mum saying that you're my dad." She had finally said it. He couldn't remain silent. He perched on the edge of her bed and braced himself.

"So, you definitely believe it, then?" He was almost hoping she would say no, she was nothing to do with him, but she nodded.

"Well I'd like to believe I had a dad, rather than swallowing a pack of lies about him having died in the Battle of Canary Wharf." The Doctor paled slightly. He now had a dozen more questions to ask Rose. Which reminded him: "Can I ask you something?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Your name. Is it short for something? Only it's a funny sort of name."

Lia was slightly offended. "It's quite a common name, actually. But yes, mine is short for Lilia. Like the Russian dancer, Lilia Kopylova."

The Doctor couldn't stop himself from smiling. "That's a lovely name. Are you named after this dancer, then?"

Lia laughed. "Oh no, I only found out about her when I started watching 'Strictly Come Dancing'."

The Doctor felt a steadily growing sense of elation. He had connected with her! He had made conversation and made her smile, something he had been incredibly nervous about attempting.

Lia stood up. "Come on," she said, "I ought to be helping Mum with dinner." They left the bedroom and Lia joined Rose in the kitchen, where she started peeling potatoes. Rose caught the Doctor's eye, and he grinned at her, not bothering to conceal his good mood. Then Rose half raised an eyebrow, as if asking him a silent question. He shook his head.

"Not yet." He mouthed. "She doesn't know enough yet." He turned and quietly left the flat. Not quietly enough though, as Lia's ears caught the click of the front door closing.

"Isn't he staying, then?" She looked disappointed. "I was getting on well with him."

Rose inwardly rejoiced that Lia had made the effort to talk to the Doctor. "I expect you'll be seeing him again soon anyway." Lia smiled to herself and tipped the now peeled potatoes into a saucepan.

xXxXx

A vast room slowly lit with a golden light and she shifted to get a better look at her surroundings. A familiar knot tightened in her chest as a creature that looked absurdly like a pepper-pot with indicator lights glided gracefully towards her. As if on fast forward, the creature had her pinned to the wall, her breath ragged from fear. The indicator lights flashed furiously. That could mean only one thing…

Lia sat up in bed, drenched in cold sweat. Where was she? Home. Safe. 'What's wrong with me?' she thought, 'It's getting worse.' She knew that her dream had somehow been triggered by the arrival of the Doctor, but what she couldn't understand was why. She took a notebook from her bedside table and started to write.

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Next chapter's better than this, I swear! But anyway, what do you think? Please review, as I'd like to know what people are thinking, rather than knowing that a bunch of people are reading but not giving any feedback! Pretty please with sugar and silver-ball-bearings on top? 


	6. Chapter 6

Hands up who else is hooked on series 2 of Torchwood!! looks around; puts hand down Oh, and hi to anyone who's still keeping tabs on this fic. xD I should warn you, if I eventually post a Chapter 7, it won't be nearly as good as this one: all my best ideas ended up in this chapter. I know, clever. Long chapter this time (please don't drop off... I'll give you a Cyber Jelly-Baby if you read it...), so hopefully it should be good.

Anywho, I thought I'd post this before I went to bed. Here it is in all its glory!

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**Chapter 6**

Lia didn't see the Doctor again until that weekend. Although he had initially decided to stay only for a day or so, the Doctor found himself becoming curious about Lia. On the Saturday morning, he returned to the flat. Rose greeted him, while Lia holed up in her bedroom. The Doctor poked his head around the door again, this time knocking beforehand. Like the first time he had entered her room, he caught her drawing in her sketch-pad. In the past, Rose had looked through Lia's drawings and had been shocked to find that they were all of aliens and suchlike that she and the Doctor had encountered in the past. She knew that the Doctor had to know, and had told him the gist of the matter, leaving out specific names of people, aliens and places that featured. She decided that it was up to him to find out exactly what was in there.

The Doctor knocked on Lia's bedroom door.

"Come in!" Lia called from within. He opened the door and poked his head round. Lia turned round. As soon as she saw him, her face lit up with a radiant smile. She had been disappointed when he had vanished for the rest of the week, and had fervently hoped that she would see him again. The thought of having a long-lost relative snatched away from her was almost too much to bear.

"Hi!" She said, relief flooding through her. "Where have you been all week?"

The Doctor looked uncomfortable. "Just… out and about." He hated direct questions about his whereabouts, preferring to fob them off. But fobbing off someone he had to get along with made him uneasy. Remembering why he had gone in, he asked to see her drawings. "I'm sure they're brilliant." He assured her, when she protested. He gently tugged the A3 pad out of her hands and opened it to the front page. What he saw made him nearly fall off where he sat on the edge of the bed. A full page was covered by a richly detailed pencil drawing of the interior of the Tardis. The picture had not been coloured in, but it was still resplendent with accurate details and shading. His eyes roved over it, drinking in every small detail. The console was littered with the pieces of rubbish that made his controls, the mesh floor carefully divided into neat squares, and every hexagonal roundel on the walls was painstakingly measured to fit into the pattern.

He turned the page. The blank face of a shop dummy stared out of the page at him. On the next page he found pictures of creatures from Platform 1. The Face of Boe took pride of place in the centre of the page, and was surrounded by the likes of the Moxx of Balhoon, the Steward, Cheem trees, and a horribly familiar trampoline shaped piece of skin. He flipped through the sketch-pad, more familiar creatures and faces jumping out at him - one face complete with a strong jaw and cheeky grin - until one double-page made him stop. Portraits of a Dalek and a Cyberman glared out of the page at him. Like the drawing of the Tardis, every little detail had been carefully picked out and included. The only aspect of the drawings which made them the smallest bit less terrifying was the annotations that were written around them in small, rounded hand-writing, picking up on details such as the indicator lights on the Dalek's head, and the tear-ducts on the Cyberman.

He finally found his voice. "These are… brilliant." He said, almost lost for words. "Where did it all come from?"

Lia looked away, embarrassed by the praise, but at his question, she regarded him steadfastly. "You'll think I'm mad." She said quietly, "Anyone else would."

"Try me."

"If I'm totally honest, it's all in my head. It's mostly the kind of things that I dream about. Mum doesn't like it. She thinks it's all rubbish and always tries to stop me from thinking about it and recording it all."

The Doctor looked slightly confused. "What do you mean by 'recording' it?"

"Well, the drawing, and I write down all my dreams as well, but Mum doesn't know about that." At this, the Doctor sat up straighter and his face became serious.

"Can I see?"

Lia looked surprised. "I wouldn't normally." She said, torn between a desire to keep her dreams secret, and wanting to let him in on the whole, enormous secret. The latter half won. "Well, I suppose I do trust you… in a way. I mean, I barely know you, but it's like I instinctively _want_ to trust you." Silently taking this as a compliment, the Doctor picked up the notebook from her bedside table, and began to read.

"_Tuesday 11__th__ March, 2:14am._

_I'm in a dark room, like a basement. The light turns on the reveal storage boxes and shop dummies, partially dressed in out of season clothes. I inch forwards, warily – these dummies are quite creepy, with their emotionless faces and unmoving presence._

_As I walk past a group of dummies, one slowly turns its head! I jump violently, shocked and back towards the door. All of a sudden, I'm running… with a stranger. We reach a rarely used lift and hurtle inside. This is where the dream ended."_

The Doctor looked round at Lia, eyes wide with discovery. Lia was sitting quietly at her desk, lost in thought. He went back to reading.

"_Saturday 15__th__ March, 5:02am._

_I step out of what looks like a large, blue phone booth, but glassless. The ground is covered in snow and more collects on the strappy black shoes that I am wearing. The stranger who follows me out of the box accompanies me into the centre of the small town, where a scream is emitted from the theatre! The dream jumps to a room, where I wake up. I turn around to see deathly-pale people, freshly dead, clambering out of their coffins. Terrified, I run to the door to escape, but it's locked! I shout and rattle the door for all I'm worth. Running footsteps sound and the door is kicked down. It's that same man again – the stranger, who is now joined by a bearded man who looks rather familiar. My gaze rests on him. This is where the dream ended."_

The Doctor snapped the notebook shut purposefully. He knew all he needed to know, and now he needed to return the favour to Lia and show her the Tardis. However, before he could do that, he had to tell Rose. Asking Lia to remain in her room for the time being, the Doctor strode down the corridor to the living room and looked Rose right in the face.

"You knew about this all along, didn't you?" He waved the sketch-pad under her nose to illustrate his point. Rose looked mutinous.

"Well I couldn't tell you before, could I? You weren't here!" But the Doctor wasn't to be swayed by this.

"She needs to know," he said, his voice shaking slightly with suppressed anger, "and I'm going to tell her now. Right after I've taken her to see the Tardis." Rose wanted to argue, but couldn't find any reason why Lia shouldn't know by now.

"Fine." She finally said, "But I'm coming with you."

They fetched Lia from her bedroom and told her to bring her sketch-pad with her. The Doctor's hearts thumped nervously as they led her down to the corner where the Tardis was hidden. Lia looked completely bewildered.

"I'm sure I've seen that box before." She said, chewing her lip, "But I can't think where."

The Doctor opened the doors and beckoned her to go in. Without the usual "How are we going to fit" speech, Lia stepped inside, looking politely confused. Her jaw dropped. She tried to speak, but words failed her. She tried again.

"Okay. Um, right, well. That's kind of… weird." The Doctor was expecting her to launch into the customary ramble about it being bigger on the inside, but she seemed to be more concerned about how the Tardis had made it into her dreams.

"Ah, now I have a theory about that." The Doctor said, his old mad scientist's grin back on his face. "Rose, you know her dreams are all seen from your perspective?" Rose shook her head, but he carried on regardless. "Well, I reckon that it's because your memories of our travels have been so deeply embedded in your memory, the nerves that run between that part of your brain and the part that controls your, erm, well, your sex hormones, have picked up the information and it's become ingrained into your DNA. You're a walking bag of memories." He grinned, as if waiting for a round of applause. Rose looked amazed. Lia looked, if possible, even more bewildered. Then she asked the million dollar question.

"Who are you? I mean, really. And, if it's not too difficult, would you mind explaining where exactly I am?"

The Doctor looked at her for a few moments, not sure how to word it. _Stuff that, _he thought, _if she can't take it, then I'm off. _He steeled himself and blurted it out in one go. "I'm the last surviving member of an alien race called the Time Lords." He expected Lia to look shocked, maybe even faint. He had known it to happen before. Instead she merely looked surprised, betraying it only by an upward twitch of her eyebrows and slightly widening her eyes.

"Okay." Her gaze flitted around the room, alighting first on the upper deck, then to the sub-controls under the floor, finally coming to a rest on the console. She was itching to go and have a good look at it, but she restrained herself. She looked the Doctor in the eyes. "And what's this place?"

"'This place'??" He asked, incredulously. "This _place _as you so crudely put it is my good ship, Tardis. And before you look all hurt, may I tell you that my ship is alive?" He leaned back on the console and patted it. "Her heart's in there. And no, you may not have a look."

Lia looked almost smug. "You forget," she said, smiling cheekily, "I've already seen it." She pointed at Rose, indicating that her particular memory of opening the Tardis had also disturbed her dreams. "And what exactly does it, I mean, she, do?"

"Travels in time and space." Rose butted in. "I used to travel with him."

"I'd gathered that much." Lia said, dryly. She approached the console and carefully ran her fingers over it, being careful not to push any buttons or switches. "How does it work?" She asked, wonderingly, although she didn't really expect an answer. She didn't get one. The Doctor decided that it would just take too long to explain anything, but instead decided to show off the Tardis's abilities.

"Fancy a trip?" His eyes glinted with the prospect of initiating someone in the family into the Tardis. For the first time in years, he had a relative, and he was willing to share time with her. Rose started to protest, but he butted back in. "It's the weekend, right? If we spend a few hours somewhere, I can have you both home before tomorrow morning."

"Is it not very reliable, then, if you can't get us back for a certain time?" Lia asked.

"Just a bit temperamental, really." He replied, "I once brought Rose home a year later than I meant to."

"A year?" Lia squawked, "If you bring us back a year late, I'll have missed my GCSEs! And, for that matter, choosing a college and enrolling." The Doctor went red. He realised that, for all her working-class beginnings, Rose had brought up a thoroughly middle-class child. He wanted, like Rose, better life chances for Lia than Rose had done before he had found her, and he didn't want to cause her to end up working in a chip shop.

"I'm sure the Tardis will understand." He said, hoping he could change her mind. "She does co-operate when you want her to." Lia was torn. She desperately wanted to see proof of the Tardis's abilities, but at the same time, she was worried that the Doctor might make a mistake and bring them back at completely the wrong time.

The Doctor could see her struggle. "Come on." He said, encouragingly, "I can take you anywhere and anywhen you want. What's it to be? Eighteenth century London? Fifty-first century Cardiff? Or, I could take you to a completely different planet." He grinned at her, willing her to agree.

Lia's growing sense of adventure won. "Surprise me." She said. The Doctor thought for a moment, deciding on a destination.

"Got it." He said, "Hold on, it may be a slightly rough ride." Rose and Lia braced themselves, gripping the handrail. The Doctor raced around the console, flipping switches and turning handles. The Tardis sputtered into life, the central column rising and falling with the distinctive _vworp-vwort _sound of the Tardis dematerialising. The room swayed as they spun off down the time vortex. Rose was ecstatic, feeling completely at home. Her enthusiasm was catching, and Lia grinned at her, practically jumping around in excitement. The room stopped swaying, and the central column came to rest. The Doctor strode to the doors, with all the confidence of a Master of Ceremonies. His eyes glittered with boyish energy, and he flung open the doors.

"Welcome Lia, welcome _back _Rose, to New Earth!" Rose practically threw herself out of the doors, eager to see the city she had visited only once before. Lia approached the doors cautiously. She closed her eyes and stepped out. With her eyes shut, her other senses were heightened. The low throbbing hum of strange vehicles filled the otherwise quiet air. A fresh breeze cooled her flushed cheeks. And what was that smell?

"Apple grass!" Rose cried, the memory flooding back. She plucked a blade and inhaled the sharp, fresh scent. Lia opened her eyes. The sky was bluer than anything she'd seen before, the grass greener than that at home. It was all heightened, seemingly hyper-real. She couldn't take it in. This surely couldn't be real. Lia was only convinced when a small airship whooshed overhead. It was close enough to send her hair flapping over her face, yet totally safe. For the first time in a long time, Lia was completely speechless.

"So?" The Doctor was waiting for her verdict, practically bouncing with excitement. Lia shook her head slowly.

"It's… brilliant. This is absolutely brilliant!" A wide smile slowly spread over Lia's face, and the sheer exhilaration made her giggle. The Doctor grinned back, relief washing over him.

"Come on." He extended a hand to her, "Let's take a tour of the city." Lia took his hand, exhilaration and excitement pumping through her. Rose grabbed his other hand and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"So, what's happened since I last came here?" She was desperate to know what she had missed. The Doctor quickly filled her in, describing the perpetual motorway with the foul fumes, and the help given by the Face of Boe in freeing the entire population of the city. Rose was saddened to hear of the Face of Boe's death, although the Doctor had tactfully left out the revelation concerning their old friend Captain Jack Harkness.

They spent several hours wandering around the city, and the Doctor managed to blag a hire-airship to see an aerial view of the city. Lia hardly stopped smiling during the whole visit. She wanted to know everything about the city, the people, the culture. Rose couldn't help but grin to herself. She'd longed to bring Lia and the Doctor together since she'd eventually given birth to her daughter, nearly seventeen years ago now. Having the two people she loved the most in the universe together, chatting and bantering and laughing together, was a fantasy she'd started to give up on.

After a while, the Doctor remembered his promise to get them home on time. He took a somewhat reluctant Lia back to the Tardis, promising that if they got another chance, he'd take her somewhere else. When they landed back in the Powell Estate, Lia checked the time and date on her alarm clock, threatening to slap the Doctor into next week if they'd got back later than expected. Luckily for him, he'd got it right for a change, and so was spared a trademark Tyler slap.

As Lia got ready for bed, she reflected quietly on the life Rose must have had before she'd got dumped in a strange new universe. What Lia would do now for a life like that. But could she really? When she had a whole life ahead of her, an education and a loving family? She felt a brief stab of guilt, realising that Jackie would know all about the Doctor, yet she didn't know if she could tell her that they'd finally met. She sighed and curled up under the duvet, momentarily marvelling that it was still only eleven o'clock on the same Saturday as she'd left for a matter of only a few hours, before falling into a deep sleep.

Rose, however, snuck back to the Tardis to spend the evening alone with the Doctor. She wasn't disappointed to find that he seemed to reciprocate the burning love she'd harboured since she was nineteen, and she enjoyed one of the best nights of her life.

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Hope you didn't drop off from boredom! If you've read to the bottom of this, you can have your Cyber-Jelly-Baby. (I _know, _I nicked the idea from rosie-bec... well, there's always someone who has the best ideas first!) You can have an extra one if you review... :D 


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